Compressors are good other than the damn noise, IF you don't fall Face first onto them from a ladder. LOL

OUCH!!!! In all of my home improvement projects I have not suffered any serious injury (nocking on wood). I have been konked on the head by a 2 x 4 while building a deck and smashed my finger with a concrete retaining wall block, but I have yet to "face plant" myself on any equipment. YIKES!!

Yes it pays to remember how many steps your ladder has as you are coming down it. I hit face first on the compressor right on my cheekbone. I thought sure I broke the eye socket but no just one heck of a black eye. I also had the gallon of paint that I was using at the time come down on top of me on my head. just to add insult to injury as they say.
I should not have been up there in the first place since I go between being able to stand or walk at all and being in a wheelchair sometimes, but I feel so useless letting my husband and occasionally sons do everything, other than all the planning, designing and decisions, that I just had to try to do something myself to help. BAD IDEA. LOL

I can't believe that is has been over a month since I have last posted. I had to use the search function just to find my own thread!

Well at least I'm living up to my threads name wouldn't want to disappoint all of you. I have been busy with family obligations, work, kids schedules, and all kinds of other stuff. Summer is just a very hectic time and I feel guilty spending time in the basement when the weather outside is nice. The kids are back in school so that should help with time allocation, so I'm hoping I can "get back down there" and start up again. There are still plenty of bare spots needing covered by 2 x 4's 8-)!!

The flip side is however every time I go to the basement I get this twinge of guilt and sorrow and find myself caressing my Dewalt saw muttering words of comfort to it, promising that before long I will be back to basement using her full tilt and back to construction status.

Well it is my goal to get some more work done, post some pictures and not wait a month to post again, at least so I won't have to search for my own thread!

The flip side is however every time I go to the basement I get this twinge of guilt and sorrow and find myself caressing my Dewalt saw muttering words of comfort to it, promising that before long I will be back to basement using her full tilt and back to construction status.

Well it is my goal to get some more work done, post some pictures and not wait a month to post again, at least so I won't have to search for my own thread!

Cheer-up. It's taken me a year to build my home theater and that's after spending three years finishing the other 1000 SQFT in my basement. I'm mostly done with the exception of the equipment rack with is now half done in the gaurage.

Check out the photos below. I've never gotten around to writing one of these new construction threads.

Cheer-up. It's taken me a year to build my home theater and that's after spending three years finishing the other 1000 SQFT in my basement. I'm mostly done with the exception of the equipment rack with is now half done in the gaurage.

Check out the photos below. I've never gotten around to writing one of these new construction threads.

That is a very nice looking theater! I love the color choice that you made it works very well together.

I too am working on an entire basement project, kid area, workout area, kitchenette, storage area, and last but not least the HT.

You should! Sometimes you have to officially schedule the time down in the basement. Just like you would schedule going to a ball game or a movie. Another strategy is to schedule something for the significant other to do. "Why don't you go out with the girls tomorrow?" "We could really use a new bedspread. Why don't you go shopping for one tomorrow?" Instant basement time!

You should! Sometimes you have to officially schedule the time down in the basement. Just like you would schedule going to a ball game or a movie. Another strategy is to schedule something for the significant other to do. "Why don't you go out with the girls tomorrow?" "We could really use a new bedspread. Why don't you go shopping for one tomorrow?" Instant basement time!

She just bought a new bedspread! Now what do I do? Foiled again. I have tried the "Honey you deserve a full day at the spa" trick er ah suggestion however as soon as I say something like that she knows I'm up to something!

I guess I will just have to "put my foot down" and tell her the way its going to be!

Actually she is wonderful and has said to me she hopes our lives get back to somewhat normal so I can return to the basement to get started again. She is excited about the basement remodel too.

I actually worked in the basement the last few days to "clean up" the areas where all of the saw dust and scrap wood was lying around. I like to work in a reasonably clean area since if there is a lot of saw dust and stuff that gets dragged upstairs that makes me less than popular.

I have the week of Thanksgiving off so I am planning on working on some more framing and general construction details. I basically have the "kids area" framed in the way I want so I could also place electrical boxes and wiring for that area.

The only bad thing is I have to "work around" "stuff" the whole time I'm in the basement. That is just the way it is though. I have moved the kids stuff and the exercise equipment more than once while doing this construction thing. Not difficult just a pain and time consuming.

That is a very nice looking HT. You are correct, and for the kids area this exactly the thing I am looking for. In fact I noticed your link in another thread and made a point to show my wife. She like the look too.

Did you build from plans or just "from the hip"? I am interested in the room dimensions and the size of the wall unit. I'm impressed. Thanks for sharing.

I made the plans on Google Sketch Up. You don't want to do anything woodworking related without a plan. I've found Sketch up to be invaluable as a home owner. It helps nail down the design between you, your wife, and anyone else that may get involved in the project. I had my father in law help me, and he always has his opinion. I was able to point to the plans when there were questions on any demensions. I put the plans here

The wall with the cabinet on it is 12.66 feet long and the other wall is 13 ft.

The wall unit is 8 ft high on the sides and about 5 ft high in the center.
the bottom sides of the bookcase are 18 inches deep and the middle is 22 inches deep. The top is 12 inches deep all the way across.

It's actually easier that you think to make since you can do it in stages. Basically making cabinet by cabinet, assembling all of it and then putting the trim on in the end.

We've found this room to be plenty big for a bunch of 3 year old kids and a couple wadults. Furniture is minimal, We one couch in this room. and the play table.

Been a long time since I have posted here. Thought I would give an update.

I must have been a very good boy this past year because Santa brought me a air compressor and a framing nailer! Whoo Hooo! This makes the construction sooo much easier.

I have got the kids area framed out and ready for electrical, wiring, cabling, and lighting. I have moved on to the main area and started to frame it out as well. I have run into a couple of snags but that is to be expected. I have also come to the conclusion that I am just very slow when it comes to building things. But an hour or two 2 or 3 nights a week and 4-5 hrs on a Saturday is just enough to see steady progress but not so consuming that the family wonders were dad went.

Now the kids area is ready for electrical (this is one of the few things I will have a professional do) I'll hang boxes for cables and outlets probably this coming weekend and have the true professional hook everything up at a later date when I can get the entire basement done at once to save on expense.

The kids area is roughly 13.5 x 13.5 and I was going to go with recessed lighting in this room and was wondering how many I really need. I was thinking of going 3-2-2-3 evenly spaced across the ceiling with the center 4 on one dimmer and the two sets of three on their own individual dimmers. Anyone have suggestions regarding that idea?

I'm still trundling along slow but sure. My wife and I were having a debate on whether or not to replace our basement windows from the origional (i.e. ugly galvanized metal ones) to newer better insulated vinyl ones. I wanted to be cheap and my wife wanted to have the purdy ones. Initially I won out and we were going to put some elbow grease into them, clean them up and re-screen them. I pulled them out and she was cleaning them up when she put her hand through one of the panes of glass! Luckily she only received a minor cut on her wrist, it could have been worse!

Well that settled it. We decided to go with the purdy new replacement windows! I am actually happy we did they look very nice even though I wasn't planning on the new windows!

I still am continuing on with the framing in the main area and continuing to make some progress. If I get a chance I'll post some photos of my progress to date.

I am really enjoying this process. I can only imagine how I will feel when it is all done and I am sitting in my HT enjoying the fruits of my labor.

Nobody has chimed in regarding the lighting question I posed in my last report so I'm still looking for suggestions on that question.

The kids area is roughly 13.5 x 13.5 and I was going to go with recessed lighting in this room and was wondering how many I really need. I was thinking of going 3-2-2-3 evenly spaced across the ceiling with the center 4 on one dimmer and the two sets of three on their own individual dimmers. Anyone have suggestions regarding that idea?

It is nice to see some progress even if it is slower than molasses!

Regards,

RTROSE

In our exercise room that is roughly 16x12 I'm just putting six 4" can lights. 300 watts of light ought to be plenty.

As I get closer to the lighting installation I think I will go with my original plan of 3-2-2-3 and as I am planning on putting them on dimmers and having them switched together with the first three then the 2-2's together then the last three. So if it is overkill then I can just dim the lights! Hopefully this will work!

I will take your advise and give it a whirl prior to buttoning everything up better then than afterwards.

Regards,

RTROSE

I am planning on working in the basement tonight for a few hours! Slow but sure. I need to post some additional pics of my progress since I have not done that for awhile.

I took my own advise and got my lights working this weekend. 6 cans with 50 watt bulbs are perfect for me. I did have a short in one box that took me forever to find. I had pinched a wire when tightening the gasket where it enters the light's circuit box. (no clue what the darn thing is actually called)

With only two more cans then me, you should be fine. Especially if you are planning on using a dimmer.

Well I was able to work about 2 1/2 to 3 hours in the basement last night and finished up the framing in the actual HT area. So now I have the kids area framed up, the HT area framed up and now it is onto the workout/kitchenette area for framing.

I am pleased with my steady albeit slow progress but the plus side is that I have not overrun my funding so far! I have had a mental plan and ideas sketched out on paper throughout this whole adventure but some things still puzzle me or when I get to looking at my idea and how I will implement it I end up scrapping it or making a lot of changes. As I am slow to build this does not really affect my build speed but I just have to laugh at myself for doing this. I'm sure everyone here who has ever done this sort of thing has made changes or has had to rethink an idea or two during the construction phases of the build.

The next step is putting more though into the lighting and coming up with a solid plan for cables, wires, networking etc. and how I want all of that connected. I am currently working out a plan for that now. I have said all along the basement is mine and that I am going to design and decorate it how I want keeping the wife at bay, however I am reconsidering this a little because the wife has very good tastes and a good eye for detail for design so maybe I'll concede somewhat when it come to the lighting design. Just don't tell her I said so!

This has so far been a great experience as I have not ever done anything like this before and there is so much more ahead of me than there is behind me but so far I am enjoying every step of the way.

Well worked a couple of hours last night and started framing the kitchenette and workout area. My wife and I are going away for the weekend but she said while we are away we should take the opportunity to look at our lighting options at a couple of different places. God love her! She is really starting to get pumped about the basement and I think she is shocked at my progress. However she still gets that deer in the headlights look when I start talking equipment, Hidef, SD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray etc. etc.

I have sent off my measurements to my "kitchen design guy" for him to come up with some plans for the kitchenette so we will see how that comes out. His goal is to make my wife jealous of my kitchen downstairs since he is the one who designed our kitchen upstairs for her last year!

I really need to get some pix posted so I can show ya all my progress.

Well the past two weekends I have been derailed. Was making pretty good progress up until that point. I still have not gotten anything back from my kitchen designer but since he is pretty much working for free at this stage I understand his need to tend to his "paying customers" I have given him pretty much free will in coming up with several designs for the kitchenette.

The wife is planning on working this weekend so with any luck at all I will be able to get back at it.

I've just now read through most of your thread here. They say everyone has a double somewhere. I believe you must be mine. As you can tell from my couple of posts in your lighting thread, I'm 2+ years into my build. I didn't see the value of starting a thread until there was actually something to see and some actual progress being made. I'd gone months in between getting anything done "down there." I made it pretty clear that I was spending this past President's Daylong weekend working. Wife spent all of one day at craft shows. And I got most of the lighting done. LAST President's Day weekend I was plumbing. In between, I cleaned up a lot of loose ends here and there, but that's been it. I find that this is about the best time of year to get things done....no Sunday football, no golfing yet, no vacations or Holidays to go crazy over.

Now, this time, I REALLY think I'm close to moving faster. Once I get the electric and framing inspections, that is.

Just like you, when I put my dricore subfloor down, the room was empty. Now, 2+ years later, I spent two hours the Saturday of the long weekend moving "stuff" (that's the nice word for it) so that I could get to the walls to run the electric I needed. Now it's all in the middle of the room. And I can never find that D!@# something when I need it.

One tip for you at this point in your lighting since you are planning a shopping trip....

Spend another $25 or $30, and buy yourself a tool belt. I hadn't really needed one until now. I bought a small nylon one, labeld "for electricians," and a belt. Then I bought a "nail pouch" and ran the belt through it. Total was about $25. You'll find that you need a lot of different tools while you're working on the electric. Two or three screw drivers, slotted AND philips, the little stubby one, wire strippers, wire cutter (nipper), two or three pliers ("electricicans" and needle nose), razor cutter, circuit tester(s), hammer. And put a bunch of what you need for what you are working on in the pounch...when I was pulling and stapling wire, I put the insulated staples in there. When I started connecting everything, I put a couple of kinds of wire nuts and the bag of wire clamps you need to attach to the recessed cans, and just recently the little nailing plates.

Oh, and buy yourself one of those $1.99 cable strippers. The ones that are just a folded over piece of metal with a cutter on the inside and a hole in the bottom where it's "folded." You slide it over the cable hanging out of the box, dig the cutter into the cable and give it a good pull. It splits the cable really fast and never nicks the actual wire inside. MUCH easier than trying to do it with a razor knife.

Thanks for all of the info. I actually wear the jeans that have the "hammer loop" and actually use it for that! I joke with my wife that my actual goal is to have the room ready when our 12 yr old graduates high school! I am very slow when it comes to this type of thing due to all of the other commitments.

I had high hope for this weekend but got sidetracked with some other things. I did have one highlight. I helped a friend install his new flat panel TV so that was good and I actually think I was able to explain some of the finer points of HD.

My wife was still under the weather so the lighting trip got delayed again and there were some other things that needed my attention this weekend. I am planing on working a few hours tomorrow and some on Thursday.